2016/12/24 by Nezih Tolga Yardimci, Yardimci, Nezih Tolga, Mona Jarrahi +1 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Optics (physics.optics) #Photonic and Optical Devices #Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research #Superconducting and THz Device Technology #Terahertz technology and applications #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1612.08143
arxiv created 2016/12/24 · openalex publication_date 2016/12/24 · arxiv updated 2016/12/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Plasmonic photoconductive antennas have great promise for increasing responsivity and detection sensitivity of conventional photoconductive detectors in time-domain terahertz imaging and spectroscopy systems. However, operation bandwidth of previously demonstrated plasmonic photoconductive antennas has been limited by bandwidth constraints of their antennas and photoconductor parasitics. Here, we present a powerful technique for realizing broadband terahertz detectors through large-area plasmonic photoconductive nano-antenna arrays. A key novelty that makes the presented terahertz detector superior to the state-of-the art is a specific large-area device geometry that offers a strong interaction between the incident terahertz beam and optical pump at the nanoscale, while maintaining a broad operation bandwidth. The large device active area allows robust operation against optical and terahertz beam misalignments. We demonstrate broadband terahertz detection with signal-to-noise ratio levels as high as 107 dB.